squadron. We must give the boys fair play, if we expect them to do their
duty."

"I have kept Duncan on board the ship, and I suppose I must punish him,"
added Mr. Lowington. "He plotted mischief, but he has really done
nothing."

"Excuse me," said Dr. Winstock, as he opened the door, but retreated
when he saw that he disturbed a private interview.

"Come in, doctor; I wish to see you," replied the principal.

The surgeon was admitted to the conference, and the case stated to him.

"The pedagogue of the past is rapidly going out of fashion," said the
doctor. "Our educational system is progressive, and it will no longer
tolerate the teacher who is the petty tyrant he was twenty years ago.
Mr. Hamblin is an old-school pedagogue. His will is law, which is all
right to a certain extent. The teacher must be the judge between right
and wrong; but he must be gentle and kind, and raise no false issues
between his pupil and himself. Mr. Hamblin is not gentle and kind. He is
capricious, wilful, and passionate."

"I agree with you in regard to Mr. Hamblin; but what shall I do?"

"Discharge him," replied the doctor, promptly. "Any instructor who
cannot get along with Paul Kendall, without quarrelling, is not fit for
his place. The students of the Josephine have hazed Mr. Hamblin out of
pure sympathy for their captain."

"I have engaged Mr. Hamblin for a year from the 1st of July."

"I should pay him his salary in full, and let him depart in peace, if he
would."

"We need his services as an instructor."

"So far as that is concerned, I will volunteer to take the department of
mathematics. I was a tutor in college in that branch for a couple of
years."

Mr. Lowington thanked the surgeon for this offer; and the call to divine
service in the steerage terminated the interview. The principal's
advisers spoke his own opinions; and the only thing that embarrassed him
in getting rid of the obnoxious professor was the bad conduct of the
students in regard to him. It was emphatically wrong for them to "haze"
an unpopular professor; and Mr. Lowington was not willing to act under
apparent compulsion.

The school studies were continued as usual through the forenoon of
Monday. After dinner, dressed in their best uniforms, with bag and
blanket, the students were conveyed to the shore for their trip through
Holland, which was to occupy three or four days. The first afternoon was
to be occupied in exploring Rotterdam, and, as usual,